Catwoman is a fictional character associated with DC Comics' Batman franchise. Historically a supervillain, the character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, partially inspired by Kane's second cousin by marriage, Ruth Steel. Kane, a frequent movie goer also mentioned that Jean Harlow was a model for the design. The character first appeared as The Cat in "Batman" #1 (Spring, 1940). The code name Cat-Woman (sic), and the first of her cat-suits were introduced in issue #2. Her civilian identity of Selina Kyle was introduced in subsequent appearances.

The character had regular appearances in the Batman titles for much of the Golden Age, both as a villain, and as a reformed criminal (or at least attempting to reform.) She disappeared from the franchise for over a decade in "Detective Comics" #211 (September, 1954), for fears that her depiction violated the recently introduced Comics Code. In 1966, over a decade later, the character was revived for the Batman television series.

The character turned popular again and revival in the comic books soon followed. Starting with "Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane" #70 (November, 1966). Where she uses magic to turn Superman into a cat. Lois Lane then gets to fight Catwoman to rescue her love interest. Regular adventures of this version continued to the 1980s. With an Earth-One version of Catwoman firmly established, the DC staff then reintroduced the original as part of the Earth-Two Alternate Universe. Or at least its backstory. According to "DC Super-Stars" #17 (November, 1977), the Golden Age Catwoman eventually married Batman. She was killed while performing One Last Job. Her daughter Helena Wayne, donned the cape of the Huntress to avenge her death.

Post-Crisis, Catwoman got a revamp in the Batman: Year One storyline (1987), which established a new background for Selina as a former prostitute who learned martial arts and the art of burglary to improve her life. She got a mini-series of her own in 1989. Then a regular Catwoman series started in September, 1993. From the 1990s until 2008, Catwoman featured in an eponymous series that cast her as an anti-hero rather than a supervillain. In 2009 this was replaced with a Gotham City Sirens title that put her in a morally-ambiguous team with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. In 2011 this was dropped and a new ongoing Catwoman title (again casting her as more of an anti-hero than a villain) began as part of the New 52 universe-wide revamp.

The character has been one of Batman's most enduring love interests, and is seen as possibly the most natural one to him. Many modern writers have also interpreted her activities and costumed identity as a response to a history of abuse.

Is the only character to make it onto both of IGN's lists of the 100 Greatest Comic Book Heroes (at #20) and Villains (at #11).

Big Bad: Surprisingly, she's shown to have become this to Batman by the time of Batman Eternal, having single-handedly taken over the entire criminal underworld of Gotham, from grifters to supervillains.

Bi the Way: A recent storyline reveals Catwoman is bisexual. There have been leanings toward this direction before but it is implied this is a recent discovery even for her.

Black and Gray Morality: Even as an Anti-Hero she tends to do some ethically questionable things, but she's got nothing on some of the villains she goes up against.

Continuity Snarl: No one is quite sure what Catwoman's backstory really is. Is she an orphan turned thief, an amnesiac air stewardess, a prostitute, a socialite, a product of an abusive marriage, the daughter of Carmine Falcone, or some combination thereof?

Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Subverted, really. In most incarnations, she knows about this, and steals for thrills more than anything else.

Death Seeker: Controversially introduced as an element of her personality for the New 52 version.

Dominatrix: In at least one version of her backstory, she worked as one before becoming a thief, and supposedly picked up her preference for whips after using them on her "customers". Though not all writers like to acknowledge that bit of her backstory, her current costume design (skintight black latex, with a whip for a weapon) still pretty clearly invokes a Dominatrix vibe.

Duct Tape for Everything: In the Pfeifer run, she carried a roll of duct tape on her person. It came in handy during her fight with Zatanna and she frequently used it to restrain enemies and hostages.

Early Installment Weirdness: In her first appearance, she was billed as "the Cat" but didn't wear a cat-themed costume, just a green dress, although she did disguise herself as a much older woman for a few panels. She also shot a guy, which was retconned out as she had a stated no-kill policy basically through the Bronze Age.

I Have Many Names: Has gone through quite the aliases. Before her secret identity was finally revealed in Batman #62, she had gone by the names of Marguerite Tone, Elva Barr, Belinda, and Madame Moderne. In the One Year Later story arc, she uses the assumed name of Irena Dubrovna to hide her identity, which in turn provides a Shout-Out to the character in the 1942 film Cat People.

Indy Ploy: The New 52 version of Selina uses these a lot. In fact she straight out admits she doesn't plan but handles most things by the seat of her pants.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Her defining characteristic has her act as a villain, but with some care for those who're helpless.

Karma Houdini: In her very first appearance (when she was still The Cat) Batman straight out allowed her to escape his custody, even foiling Robin's attempt to stop her... solely because he had the hots for her.

Once Catwoman became an antihero, Batman started looking the other way when she does her thing, since she protects Gotham in her own way.

Kindhearted Cat Lover: The "kindhearted" part may not be obvious, but she has at least a dozen cats, all of which she loves. She frequently donates money she obtains from her heist to animal shelters.

A new Catwoman appears in the Batman Beyond ongoing series. She's the daughter of Multiplex, an unrelated enemy of Firestorm.

Lucky Bitch: The New 52 version seems to get out of dangerous situations with skill, quick-thinking, but most importantly jaw-dropping luck!.

Mafia Princess: May or may not be the illegitimate daughter of mob boss Carmine Falcone - even she doesn't know for certain. She definitely didn't get any of the perks that normally come from this trope, though.

Private Detective: Slam Bradley, a legacy character from the earliest issues of Detective Comics. He's pretty much straight out of the 1930s.

Right Through the Wall: An issue of the New 52 Catwoman series has Selina fighting a cop in his apartment. In order to avoid arousing suspicion, she covers the cop's mouth and begins making loud, sexual noises so that the neighbors think there is simply some rough sex going on, rather than a brutal fist fight.

Save the Villain: Parodied at the end of the "Relentless" arc. Black Mask has blown up the community centre Selina funded, tortured her brother-in-law to death and driven her sister permanently insane, had one of her best friends run over with a car, and announced his desire to torture her to death. After a brutal fight, Selina kicks him off the balcony of his penthouse, but he manages to grab hold of the parapet with one hand.

Black Mask: Help... Help me. C'mon, you won, OK. Help me up.

Catwoman: God, you're even crazier than I thought. (stands and watches as he loses his grip and falls)

Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She's attracted to Batman because of the good inside of him and how he risks his life to save others, including her, out of selflessness.

Stripperiffic: Especially since she began wearing black leather catsuits. Treated literally in the DC Showcase animated short in which Catwoman impersonates a stripper - and all she has to do is go on stage in her regular costume and take it off.

Smug Smiler: Every time we see her face she usually sports one of these to show how smart she is. It's mostly because she knows she's a Karma Houdini.

Hush tried to use her to get at Batman by cutting out her heart. In retaliation, she steals every last cent he has.

Likewise, her response to Black Mask torturing her sister was to kill him.

Thou Shalt Not Kill: For most of her career, Catwoman has tried to avoid killing anyone (one of the reasons the creators were able to make her into more of a sympathetic villain and it was easy for her to cross into hero territory, even being accepted by the moralistic likes of Superman). But when it comes to really reprehensible people like Black Mask, she will do so (although not without regret, as the spoiler-protected example continues to haunt her for many issues afterwards).

True Love Is Boring: Why Selina and Bruce have not been happy together in most of adaptations (barring possibly The Dark Knight, and just possibly). And why Selina possibly can't find someone else.

Vapor Wear: Certain artists draw her costume in such a way that there's no way she's wearing anything under it. Guillem March is a big offender. Paul Gulacy did several panels in his period as artist that outright showed her naked before putting the catsuit on.

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